Save the Turkey with a Touch of Common Core Writing

I am on what we call a blog posting roll, ladies and gentleman! I haven't blogged this frequently....well, ever! I think it's because I love this time of year. Just when I was feeling the teacher burnout (aren't we all?), here comes Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! How in the world can you not just LOVE the holidays?! So today I'm going to share a fun activity that my students absolutely adore!

First, we begin by reading Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano (Amazon affiliate link). You could also read A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting (Amazon affiliate link). Both involve turkeys that don't want to be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. There are several other picture books out there, but these are two of my favorites. You can click the affiliate links below to purchase them on Amazon.

After reading one of these picture books, we discuss the plot, point of view, and problem/solution. There are several graphic organizers in my Thanksgiving ELA Printables pack to use when reading either of these books.

After completing one of the graphic organizers from my pack (there are several that will work), we begin to brainstorm how it would feel if we were a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. We talk about how we would solve our problem. The students are assigned the following writing prompt from my November Common Core Writing Unit. They have to write a letter to try and persuade families to NOT eat turkey for Thanksgiving and provide reasons that support their opinion.

They will have to support their opinion using the following graphic organizers, also included in the unit.

And finally, they will publish their Opinion Piece on differentiated publishing paper, also included in the unit.

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